F.ScottFitzgerald

The Classicist: The Biltmore Rises Again at The Gates

Filed under: Decor, Dining, The Classicist

An historic landmark has been reborn in New York, "marking the intersection between decades of nightlife expertise and over 100 years of luxury design." Located in a circa 1865 building in the heart of the city's most famous nightlife neighborhood, The Gates features an interior salvaged from the art nouveau masterpiece the New York Biltmore Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Upon the hotel's demolition in 1984 the most impressive elements from the lobby and bar (including an original bronze and marble telephone booth) were rescued and re-established in the Chelsea space which has since become one of the most iconic rooms in the city.

After laying empty for several years and having fallen into a state of neglect, The Gates (formerly the Biltmore Room) was recently brought back to life by nightlife impresarios Danny Kane and Rod Surut. The lavish space, featuring floor-to-ceiling Carrera marble walls (valued at $2.5 million alone), is kept private from the street by a pair of stunning brass gates from the original hotel, which give the venue its name. A VIP room complete with a fireplace and crystal chandeliers, a full kitchen and bar catering to 285 people, a state of the art sound system, DJ booth and the refinement of the bar room to its previous glory are the key elements breathing new life into a storied space.

"We were working with a room that had such a strong personality, it was great to play that against all the innovations we were making to create one of the most unique spaces in the country," Kane notes. The project felt like the "re-emerging of a character who's played such an important part in the social history of New York City." The New York Biltmore Hotel, opened in 1913 with nearly 1,000 rooms, was a landmark luxury hotel designed by Warren and Wetmore, who also designed the adjoining Grand Central Terminal. Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald honeymooned there (and were asked to leave on account of rowdiness) and the Biltmore figured in several of his stories as well as in J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.

Gallery: The Gates

Tags: bar, cocktails, F. Scott Fitzgerald, F.ScottFitzgerald, hotel, J.D. Salinger, J.d.Salinger, Manhattan, marble, New York, NewYork, The Gates, TheGates

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Great Gastby Rolls-Royce up for Auction

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Auctions

The 1928 Rolls-Royce (above) driven by Robert Redford in the big screen version of The Great Gatsby is being auctioned off by Bonhams during the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance in Connecticut on June 7. The 40/50hp Phantom I Ascot Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton with coachwork by Brewster is estimated at $150,000 - $200,000. Owned by Massachusetts collector Ted Leonard, who lent it for the 1974 film, the car is largely original with minimal restoration. It was however painted a buttery yellow and its leather upholstery died green to match the description in F. Scott Fitzgerald's original text: "It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns."

Tags: Bonhams, Connecticut, F. Scott Fitzgerald, F.ScottFitzgerald, Greenwich, Robert Redford, RobertRedford, Rolls-Royce, The Great Gatsby, TheGreatGatsby

The Classicist: A Toast to F. Scott Fitzgerald

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits, The Classicist

Drinking, if done well and stylishly, can lead to literary inspiration. Or at least not impede it too much. Take that great chronicler of wealth and society F. Scott Fitzgerald, for instance, whose 112th birthday is about to be celebrated; some of his best work was clearly done under the influence. Just look at Tender Is the Night (1934). Of course the intemperate author, left entirely to his own devices, might have been less poetical in his consumption of alcohol and thereby rendered a less perfect work of art. But his great friends, patrons and mentors Gerald and Sara Murphy, upon whom Tender Is the Night is based, showed him how to do the thing properly.

The beautiful, rich and clever Murphys, central figures of expatriate social and cultural life of the Jazz Age in France, held court at their villa on the French Riviera in Antibes - this was long before the Russian billionaires arrived, before there even was such a thing in fact - and dispensed cocktails at the dazzling dinner parties immortalized in the book. Gerald tried to limit his guests' consumption of same in order to prevent the gatherings from devolving into total inebriation, though Fitzgerald usually managed to down more than his fair share. This often led to breakages, shouting matches and even suicide attempts, proving Murphy right.

The Fitzgeralds of course, were legendary boozers. When they later lived in shabby gentility in Great Neck, Long Island, they would drive back and forth to Manhattan for binges in a second-hand Rolls-Royce. Their houseboy would frequently find them passed out on the lawn in the morning, the car more or less in the driveway. For Murphy, however, drink-making was a stylish ritual imparted by his father, owner of the Mark Cross luxury goods company.

Tags: Antibes, Cary Grant, CaryGrant, Cocktails, f. scott fitzgerald, F.ScottFitzgerald, France, French Riviera, FrenchRiviera, Gerald and Sara Murphy, GeraldAndSaraMurphy, Gin, Jazz Age, JazzAge, Mark Cross, MarkCross, Rolls-Royce, Summer drinks, SummerDrinks, Tender is the Night, TenderIsTheNight, The Philadelphia Story, ThePhiladelphiaStory, Whitney Museum, WhitneyMuseum

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Riviera's Famed Proven�al Hotel to Re-Open as Apts.

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

A famed Art Deco hotel on the Côte d'Azur that's been derelict since 1973 is being turned into a luxury apartment building catering to the bon ton. Developer Cyril Dennis is relaunching Le Provençal, on the border between Juan-les-Pins and Cap d'Antibes, where the likes of Coco Chanel, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald once frolicked.

The London Telegraph reports that Dennis is transforming the 45,000-sq.ft. beachside property, built in 1925, into 56 luxury units with 360-degree views, indoor / outdoor pools, private gardens, Porsche kitchens, marble floors, Turkish baths and aquariums. He describes the Provençal as "the last jewel in the Cap d'Antibes," an area where top-drawer villas now go for over $200 million thanks to an influx of superrich oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich.

Gallery: Le ProvenÃ§al